Today's the Day...in More Ways than One

It looks like today’s the day… I’m 98% sure I’ll pick up the bike today. All I’m waiting for is confirmation from the lovely Wendy at Zia Power Sports that she’ll be around this morning to pick me up and take me to The Big(ger) City^TM. You read that right: I’m getting picked up by the dealership. That’s the sort of service that wins friends and influences people. Too bad it’s so rare these days.

I missed it the first time around, but when I booted up the ‘puter this morning I was prompted by the good folks at the Googleplex to check out their April Fools joke. Pretty funny! But OTOH, don’t we all know someone who prints out all their e-mail? I used to know folks like that…

It’s begun…and I’ll bet there are more than a few people dragging their butts into work today in Dallas (Vancouver, too):

VANCOUVER (CP) - The relief outweighed the exhaustion after Henrik Sedin scored with 1:54 left in the fourth overtime period Wednesday to give the Vancouver Canucks a 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars in the opening game of their NHL Western Conference quarter-final series.

[…]

The overtime lasted 78 minutes, six seconds. The longest overtime game in NHL history was 116:30 when Detroit beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 back on March 24, 1936.

[…]

The game started at 7:11 p.m. local time and didn't end until 12:35 a.m.

That’s a lot of hockey, folks! Pity the poor Dallas fans: the game was on the Left Coast, to begin with. And then 78 minutes of overtime, after the regulation 60 minutes? That means it was over at 0235 hrs, Dallas time. Then add in the fact that the Stars scored twice in the third period to force the overtime… and you have tired and disappointed Stars fans. Oh, well. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of folks. Stars fans are...ahem..."ate up." Just sayin'.

Detroit plays its first game at 7:00 p.m. tonight (this afternoon, for me).

The Detroit Red Wings have had trouble as a high playoff seed in recent years. The Calgary Flames will look to take advantage - again.

A No. 1 seed for the third straight season, the Red Wings look to avoid another quick playoff exit as they host the Flames on Thursday night in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Detroit won the Stanley Cup in 2002 as a No. 1 seed, but suffered a first-round defeat in 2003 as a No. 2 and was the top seed last year when it was stunned by Edmonton in the opening round. In 2004, Calgary ousted the Wings, who that year won the first of back-to-back Presidents' Trophies, in the second round in six games.

I hate it when the write-ups begin this way, and they always do…when it comes to the Wings and the playoffs. (It could be worse. I could live in Toronto. Heh heh heh… But seriously, this article in the Toronto Sun says most of what there is to say about the NHL playoffs. Good stuff.) More on the Wings playoff woes from ESPN:

But we think "upset" is a term that should be banished, at least in the West. There are many who believe Detroit, again the top seed, is in for a rough ride with eighth-seeded Calgary. And the Red Wings could be. But with the Flames sporting Miikka Kiprusoff, Jarome Iginla and Dion Phaneuf and 96 regular-season points, would it really be an upset? We think not. The Western Conference is home to six of the top eight point-getters in the NHL. The Flames' 96 points are more than three Eastern Conference playoff teams.

A classic case of “the truth hurts” if I ever saw one. Be that as it may, I’ll be parked in front of the Tee Vee with a cool Fat Tire and a bag of popcorn at 1700 hrs sharp! New bike or not…

A legend passes… Kurt Vonnegut is dead. I loved his writing, even though I hated his politics.

His experience in Dresden was the basis of “Slaughterhouse-Five,” which was published in 1969 against the backdrop of war in Vietnam, racial unrest and cultural and social upheaval. The novel, wrote the critic Jerome Klinkowitz, “so perfectly caught America’s transformative mood that its story and structure became best-selling metaphors for the new age.”

S’true, that. “Slaughterhouse-Five” was certainly transformational for me.

RIP, Mr. Vonnegut.

Today’s Pic: An old bike pic on new bike day. The Yama-Hammer at the Continental Divide in Yellowstone. I anticipate posting more than a few pics similar to this in the coming months. Except there will be a blue V-Strom front and center…

May, 2000.